Ireland's aviation watchdog 'didn't want to risk' threatening Ryanair with legal action
Commissioner Cathy Mannion said she didn’t think such a move was ‘always the best way to do things’.
IRELAND’S AVIATION WATCHDOG has stood by a decision to refrain from threatening legal action against Ryanair during the airline’s recent cancellations crisis.
Addressing an Oireachtas transport committee, the head of the Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR), Cathy Mannion, said she “didn’t want to take that risk” for fear that the carrier would stop cooperating with the agency.
In the wake of the controversy, Mannion’s UK counterpart – the Civil Aviation Authority’s Andrew Haines – threatened legal enforcement against Ryanair for “misleading passengers”.
The CAA believed Ryanair hadn’t given correct information to customers about their consumer rights and slapped a deadline on the carrier to correct the situation, which it adhered to late last week.
“It was a matter of judgement,” Mannion said. “CAA made a different judgement. Their focus might have been different to ours.
“My focus was to get information out to passengers. I didn’t want to risk Ryanair not engaging.”
Commissioner Cathy Mannion
Mannion said she has the same amount of powers as Haines, although the CAR’s functions are different to the CAA’s remit.
The UK regulator deals with both passenger rights issues and airline regulation. In Ireland, those roles are divided between the Irish Aviation Authority and CAR.
Some of the committee members suggested that the Irish watchdog may have taken a ‘soft-touch’ approach to its dealings with Ryanair.
“It’s not my first concern than I’m perceived as this stronger or weaker person,” Mannion said, adding that she didn’t think making legal threats in public was “always the best way to do things”.
Sinn Féin’s Imelda Munster suggested that the airline didn’t take the CAR seriously. She questioned whether legislation needed to put in place to give the agency “a bit of teeth”.
Advance notice
Mannion said it was clear Ryanair “took their eye of the ball when it came to passengers’ rights” and were too concerned with dealing with their own internal difficulties.
The commissioner criticised Ryanair for not issuing a full list of cancelled flights in a timely fashion.
“It would have helped (Ryanair) an awful lot if they could have been clearer,” she said.
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary
The transport committee heard that the CAR was not given advance notice of Ryanair’s decision last month to cancel thousands of flights. Mannion said she was only made aware of the situation through social media and news reports.
She said the CAR was not shown information the airline was sending out to customers, adding that it was not presented in a clear manner that customers could understand.
While there is no obligation for the airline to give the regulator notice of flight cancellations, the commissioner suggested that a procedure should be put in place to ensure airlines release consumer information in a timely manner.
Mannion said she didn’t believe such a procedure would have to be legislated.
Overall, the commissioner said she was satisfied with the level of engagement from Ryanair. When the CAR requested information from the airline, it got back to the agency “as quick as they could”.
“I don’t accept that they were fobbing us off,” Mannion said.
